Afternoon trading July 30

Thanks Oscar and morning crew.


Half-time round-up:

Shares started the week on the back foot, reversing off Friday's ten-year closing high following a rough end to Wall Street trade on Friday.

The ASX 200 retreated 35 points or 0.5% to 6265 as gains in telecoms +1.1% and gold stocks +0.1% were overshadowed by declines in health -1.1%, IT -1%, financials -0.6% and materials -0.8%.

US equity futures drifted lower after Friday's IT-led slump. S&P 500 futures were recently down six points or 0.21%. On Friday, the S&P 500 shed 0.66% and the Nasdaq a hefty 1.46% as Facebook tumbled 19%.

Asian markets traded mixed. China's Shanghai Composite rallied 0.16%, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng lost 0.52% and Japan's Nikkei 0.55%.

Crude oil futures rose 15 cents or 0.22% this morning to US$68.84 a barrel. Gold futures lost $3.50 or 0.28% to US$1,229.20 an ounce. The dollar was buying 73.9 US cents.



What the heck is going on with CAG? Haven't seen anything pumped like that for a few years. Not surprised the ASX is asking questions. Huge win for those in early enough. Trading: began buying TAR at 15c and got a few more at 13.5. All out now. Good start to the week.